Hero Climbers

The other morning I went to the American Alpine Club website, as I often do, to search for entries about a particular topic — in this case the Revelation Mountains in Alaska — through the American Alpine Journal. Before I got to that I clicked on the new Guide to Membership page about the booklets that are on their way to members’ mailboxes now. I was surprised and flattered to see myself on page five alongside Jim Davidson, Emily Harrington and several other reputable AAC members — all climbers I admire.

A couple days later, I received notes from a few fellow AAC members that saw me in the other mailing that arrived this week, which is soliciting contributions to the AAC and its Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club Library. I appreciated the messages!

I have to admit, I think it is really neat to be part of these publications to promote the AAC. The neatest part isn’t even being labeled a member — there are far, far more accomplished and interesting climbers than me. Rather, it’s a thrill to be among theses other AAC members, like Bayard Russel, Mike Libecki, Abbey Smith, Jason McDonald, Conor Smyth, Chris Serenari, and Chris Kendzierski in addition to Jim and Emily. I probably sound like a groupie.

I write this blog because I am a fan of other climbers. The mountains are made more interesting because of what you accomplish there and the stories you come back to tell. So to be alongside these climbers and associated with the other members of the AAC, well, the honor is all mine!

On another subject, I just started reading Freedom Climbers by Bernadette McDonald for myself, at long last. I’ll also be catching up on Alpinist 38 and I just got the latest issue of Climbing in the mail. A new mountaineering book collectors group that I recently joined just started meeting this past week too. Lot’s going on and I’m sure there will be more to share about climbing, mountain literature and finding escapes from the mundane parts of Peaklessburg.

If you enjoyed this brief update, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll cover a lot more about human accomplishment in the mountains later and share other information on the social networking sites. Happy reading and carpe climb ’em!